Know what you are looking for, but not sure where to start? Our graphics team is happy to assist in making you look your best. Once we have discussed and assessed your design needs, you can send us any pertinent files relevant to the project via email, direct upload to our website, or by using another file transfer service (such as Dropbox). When in doubt, call. We’d love to help.

To access our library of downloadable PDF templates, please click here.

When creating a custom sized document, please note standard sizes to minimize paper waste. The following are standard US paper sizing available for digital print runs:

The following are standard US paper sizing available for digital print runs:

Colour Mode is the values used to create the colours you see. Computer monitors display colors in light values or RGB (Red, Green & Blue) colour mode. Printers print in ink values or CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black) colour mode.

Most frequently, documents will be defaulted to set up using RGB color space. When creating a layout for print, your color mode should always be set to CMYK. If a file is sent to a printer in RGB mode, the colour will be converted by the print driver giving a less predictable colour appearance.

Any PMS or specialty mix ink colours will be converted to CMYK unless specified for offset printing.

Converting your document to CMYK:

Adobe Photoshop: Image menu / Mode / CMYK Colour.

Adobe Illustrator: File menu / Document Color Mode / CMYK Colour.

Files viewed on the screen will be displayed in RGB colour mode, whereas printed files will be created using CMYK toners. Digital files will appear brighter and more vivid than print colours because they are created by emitting light, whereas printed colours are produced by allowing the paper to absorb or reflect certain colour wavelengths dependent upon the amount of toner coverage. Keep in mind that all monitors are calibrated differently and depending on your monitor the final print will not reproduce as it appears on your screen. If your job is colour critical please request a physical proof. For guidance on setting up colour preferences on your file, please see “What is Colour Mode…”.

Bleeds are the portion of your document that extend past the borders of your page. The purpose of bleeding your document is to ensure background color and images print to the edge of your paper without leaving an unprinted sliver on the edge when cut to size.

Bleed Area: The bleed area should extend 0.125″ on each side past the finished document size.

Example: if you are making business cards (3.5″ x 2″) your bleed size should be 3.75″ x 2.25″. Note: Bleeds are only necessary if the color extends to the edge of your document.

Safe Text or Critical Image area is important to ensure that none of the text or critical images like logos will be cut off when being cut to size. Please setup your margins for a minimum of 0.25″.

Text Safe Area: The safe area is 0.25″ from the edge of your document.

Example: if you are printing an 8.5”×11″ flyer your safe text area is 8”×10.5″.

To ensure that we use the correct document dimensions please provide crop marks when supplying a document with bleed.

Microsoft Word is a page layout word processing program. Word can accomplish a lot of things and has a tonne of tools at the ready. Used to its full potential it is a powerful tool. Unfortunately it isn’t always the easiest program to work with in the printing world.

First, it won’t imbed your fonts. Each computer has different ones loaded and if the we don’t have your fonts it won’t look like you thought it would when it gets here. You can get around that by making a PDF from your word document and sending that. Keep in mind that a PDF won’t be easily altered if we notice any errors at the printing stage. Text only documents should scale well provided you haven’t used any text art.

Second, it will work with both vector and raster images but won’t let you know which they are once they’re embedded and may convert them to raster if you apply any edits to the image. This may be a problem if we’re scaling your file to a larger format. You can get around this by creating your file at the finished size you’re looking to print at.

Third, it works in an RGB colour space and printing is done in a CMYK colour space. Not only will all the information you create in word will be in RGB but it may also be converting your images to an RGB colour space. This conversion compounded by converting to CMYK for printing may create colours you weren’t expecting. You should colour proof your document on our machines, especially if you are colour critical as there is no way around this with word.

All in all Microsoft Word is great for what it is intended for: page layout and word processing. For graphics heavy items such as brochures or poster there are other programs better suited but if Word is what you’ve got, go for it, we’ll make it work. For critical images like your company logo or other trademarked items you should use a graphics program that will give you more file format options, higher control of colour and a greater ability to control the quality of your image. If you don’t have access to graphics programs and you created your logo in word it will work in some formats but not all, in the long run it’s worth the cost to have it rebuilt in a vector format by a professional.

There are two major graphic structures, vector and raster.

Vector format is an image that is created using a mathematical equation. This equation will include instructions for all the lines, curves and points in an image. Vector graphics can be scaled to any size without loss of quality because the image is simply redrawn at a different scale. Most fonts, line drawings and logos are created originally in vector format. The most common programs for vector drawing are Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw.

Raster format is an image that is created using pixels or dots. The resolution will determine how many dots are used. The more dots, the more detail and higher quality. When you scale a raster image, you increase or decrease the size of those dots rather than adding more dots. When scaling to large you will begin to see those dots and a loss of quality will appear. Most photographs and fine art images are raster format. The most common programs for raster drawing are Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

When at all possible, please submit logo files as vector images.

When working with text, it is important to remember that not all computers will have the font you are using installed. To avoid font substitution errors, you can do two things:

1. Convert your font to outlines or curves.

Photoshop: Layer menu / Flatten image.

Illustrator & InDesign: Select all / Type menu / Create outlines.

Corel Draw: Select all / Arrange menu / Convert to curves.

This will convert all text in your document to an image and prevent the font from displaying incorrectly. Note: Once type has been converted to outlines, the text is no longer editable.

2. Include your font with your file submission

If working in a program that does not allow you to create outlines, you can include the font file with your submission. This allows us to install the font on our end and keeps the text editable.

Finding a font on your PC

Right click on your start menu and select “Explore.” Then open the Local Drive (C) folder. Select the “Windows” folder, and then “Fonts.”

Finding a font on your MAC

Open the Finder and select the Hard Drive folder. Select the “Library” folder, and then “Fonts.”

For best results, files should be saved as eps, tiff, pdf or high resolution jpg. Files in other formats such as gif or png are usually at a lower resolution for faster web access and may not print well. Images should be saved at 300 dpi (dots per inch) at 100% size.

There are three ways to submit your file:

1. FTP — Using the Submit an Order area of our website, you can upload your file directly to our server. This is the preferable method if you have a large file.

2. Email — If your file is smaller than 10MB, you can email it directly to us.

Downtown Location: downtown@tonym82.sg-host.com

3. USB or Disc — You can also come into either location with digital copy of your work and speak directly with one of our Customer Service Representatives.

We are able to work with a variety of file types, however the preferred method is high quality PDF (portable data file.) Please see the list below for acceptable file formats.

Adobe CC

Acrobat (PDF) **strongly recommended**

Illustrator (AI)

InDesign (INDD) **fully packaged file required**

Photoshop (PSD)

Microsoft Office

Excel (XLS)

Powerpoint (PPT)

Publisher (PUB)

Word (DOC)

Standard Image Files (JPG, TIF, PNG, GIF)

When choosing stock, there are three factors to consider; coating, weight and colour. The main differences are as follows:

Coated: gloss or satin finish

Uncoated: matte finish

Text weight: Thinner paper stock used for items such as letters, book pages and flyers

Cover weight: Thicker card or board stock used for items such as post cards and business cards

White: Self-explanatory, this is the most common type of stock used for printing

Colours: Typically used in greyscale printing, for a complete list of what’s available please consult our customer service

Stock weight will depend on the item you are printing and your preference. Below is a list of some of our stocked items and common uses for them. If you are looking for something that is not listed here, please contact our sales team directly to find out availability on custom orders.

Each original (or impression) is one side of a printed sheet. For example, you want one sheet with printing on both sides, and you have a two page file. You have two originals.

We accept: Cash, Cheque, Debit, VISA, MC and AMEX.

We do not accept payment through this website. If you are unable to visit our location or pay with cash, you may phone or fax in a credit card authorization or mail in a cheque.

We request payment on job completion. On larger orders we may request a deposit at the time of the order. If your order is being shipped payment is needed before we ship your job.

If you would like to prepay for your order, this can be arranged once we have the details and pricing confirmed for your order.

If you would like a gift certificate for a future order you can purchase any denomination. Please contact our manager at tony@tonym82.sg-host.com to arrange.

Our Submit an Order for will accept up to 3 files combining to a max 50MB in size. For anything larger than that you can bring in your files or send it to us using an online file transfer service. Two sites that you can use for free on an occasional basis are:

www.wetransfer.com

www.dropbox.com

Please do not send any large files to us via email. Anything more than 10MB will bog down our email and prevent any other emails from coming through until your is downloaded.

If you are trying unsucessfully to upload files and they are smaller than 50MB there are a few things to keep in mind:

The only file types that are allowed through the file upload are: jpg jpeg png gif mp3 mov avi wmv midi mid pdf doc docx xls xlsx ppt pptx txt rtf zip rar ico css xml swf. All other types are blocked.

If the spinning wheel on your computer times out and doesn’t complete the file upload you may have a 15 minute session timer on your computer. If your internet connection or computer can’t upload in that time you may need to send us the files in another manner.

At College Copy Shop we pride ourselves on our fast turnaround. For most items we are able to accommodate very tight deadlines. Depending on the scope of work for your print job, whether the artwork is ready and the current production schedule in the shop, it could be possible to have your job ready in less than a day if need be.

If you are on a tight deadline be sure to let us know what your needs are and we will do our best to accommodate them.

Yes, we do offer delivery service for an additional fee. Orders over $500 are eligible for free delivery within the City of Edmonton. Payment on orders must be made before delivery is scheduled.

Please contact our Customer Service Representatives (780-423-1458) to inquire about delivery charges.

Yes, you can supply your own paper stock. However, please be aware that there is no guarantee that it will run properly through our machines. It is a good idea to have extra stock for testing and proofs. Any stock that is supplied must be laser print compatible.

Please note: we cannot print on pre-cut stock smaller than 7.5 x 7.5″ depending on your output preference. If you are unsure please call to confirm.

College Copy Shop cannot reproduce any copyright materials without permission. Even an out of print publication may be copyright protected. Below is an excerpt from http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/copypol2.html to help you decipher if something is protected under copyright.

Any work published on or before December 31, 1922 is now in the public domain.

Works published between January 1, 1923 and December 31, 1978, inclusive, are protected for a term of 95 years from the date of publication, with the proper notice.

Currently protection runs for 70 years from the date the author dies (called, “life of the author” plus 70 years). Further, publication is irrelevant. Works are protected whether they are published or not.

Finally, those works that were created before December 31, 1978, but never published, are now protected for the life of the author plus 70 years as well.

When in doubt, get permission.